I, (name), take you, (name), to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the (man/woman) you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us.

(Name), today I will marry you, my friend, the one I will live with, dream with, and love forever. I take you to be my (husband/wife). From this day forward I will cherish you. I will look with joy down the path of our tomorrows, knowing we will walk it together side by side, hand in hand, and heart to heart.

The feeling hit me the moment we made eye contact in class. It was so immediate and powerful—far deeper and inexplicably beyond any calculation of time and place. You don’t describe a feeling like that. You also can’t replicate it or force it. You just let it flow in and around you. You go where it takes you.